


all I ever wanted was the world

by sailortwilightt



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Iwaizumi takes care of Oikawa’s knee, M/M, Medical!Iwaizumi, Pre-knee injury!Oikawa, Strangers to Lovers, and heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:22:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailortwilightt/pseuds/sailortwilightt
Summary: Oikawa Tooru is fully dedicated to his volleyball career until he accidentally hurts his knee. He meets Iwaizumi Hajime, the physical therapist who takes on his case, and gets more therapy than he bargained for.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 5
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “I’m talking about the new cute boy!”  
> “Is that what it is?”

Oikawa Tooru is living his best life.

25 years old, got a scholarship to go to one of the best universities in Tokyo for volleyball, doing fairly decent in school, and he’s got a little fan club that’s grown up with him since his high school days. He’s dabbled in dating within the fan club or just to get flings every here and there.

Relationship status: Single.

Sure, someone as handsome, good-looking, smart, and talented as him could be taken, but what was the fun in that? Although Oikawa did want someone to be solely his, his relationships didn’t last that long since he has to keep his grades up to continue with his scholarship, and obviously, 95% of his time was dedicated to volleyball if he wasn’t studying.

But we also won’t mention how Oikawa wants to enjoy his young twenties as much as any university student could until he made it onto the national volleyball team.

It’s the spring holidays and for once, practice was canceled. With a school break and canceled practice, Oikawa had nothing to do. He was caught up in all his work, he was up to date on his favorite soap opera series, and he was also up to date on his recent manga. What else was there to do?

Oikawa lays in his bed, sighing with a pout. “So boring,” he whined. He bathed in the sunlight that came in through his window before he patted the bed in search of his phone. Once he found his phone, he brought it up, going through his contact list.

He hasn’t seen his friends. And as much as he wanted to be active, he didn’t think a run would suffice and kill all the pent up energy he has. Plus it was _way_ too early to go to a club and pick someone up. He needed someone to pick on, someone to bicker with.

Ah-ha!

He pressed on one of his favorite contacts, pressing his phone to his ear as the dial tone started to ring. It took about three rings before there was an answer.

“Yo!”

“Tetsu-chan!” sang Oikawa. “What’s up, whatcha doing?”

There was some movement on the other end of the phone and another male voice that was quietly sighing. “I was playing some games with Kenma before I have to meet up with a friend later. What do you want?”

Oikawa blinked before scoffing. “How dare you. Are you saying I can’t call a friend with the sole intention of saying hello?” he squawked lightly.

Kuroo hummed. “I’m sure you could, but you’re also you, so the likelihood of that is highly unlikely. So, I ask again, how can I be of unfortunate service to you?”

“Unfortunate?” Oikawa pouts.

“Keep it up and I’ll actually hang up on you,” Kuroo sings.

“Alright, alright!” Oikawa laughs. “I was actually bored, and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?”

“Hang out, huh?” Kuroo repeated, mostly for the third party to hear. Oikawa could hear the denials from the third party that wasn’t in on the call. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well, we could gather a couple friends and maybe play some ball? I know the girl at reception, so I could probably sweet-talk her into letting us set up the net and throw some sets?” Oikawa asks, twisting one of the strands of hair that was hanging in front of his face.

“I don’t know why I bothered asking, I should have figured that you were going to say something of the sort. Can’t live without volleyball, can you?” Kuroo chuckles. “What do you say, babe? Let’s keep this whiny child some company?”

Oikawa scoffs and starts to pout. He could hear Kenma refusing to go and Oikawa throws in a small puppy whine, a “c’mon, Pudding-chan, pretty please?”, Kenma sighs, as loudly and dramatically as a relenting Kenma would – which wasn’t a lot.

“Guess we’ll see you in 30. We’ll get ready and see you there,” Kuroo says, shuffling heard on the other end of the phone as he moved around. “Ah, but before I forget – I do have to meet up with a friend in a couple hours, so I won’t be able to stay for so long, alright?”

Oikawa quickly sat up in bed, giddy at the prospect of playing with one of his old friends again. “Yeah, that’s fine! I’ll try to gather up some more friends too, so we can have more people to play with!”

“Yeah, but don’t gather a whole team, please,” Oikawa heard Kenma mumble. Kuroo snickers.

“We’ll see how that goes.”

“Pudding-chan gives me so much credit, I love it.” Oikawa coos. Kenma makes an annoyed sound.

With Kuroo and Kenma now enlisted in the impromptu volleyball game, maybe he could get a couple more heads to join in the game.

He texted his old friends Hanamaki, Matsukawa, Hinata, even Kageyama, of all people. Schoolwork has been consuming him to the point that he wasn’t able to meet up with his friends anymore. It was time to socialize and kick some of his friends’ asses.

His phone chimed with a text from Hinata.

Shouyo: OMG HECK YA

Shouyo: o wait

Shouyo: oh ahaha T^T

Shouyo: Kags just reminded me that I have an assignment to turn it

Shouyo: I wanna gooooooo

Shouyo: and kags said he has a paper due

Oikawa chuckled. Seems like Hinata was still a very big ball of energy.

Oikawa: It’s okay if you can’t come!

Oikawa: I mean, still a bummer but

Oikawa: lol

Oikawa: we can catch up later <3333

Shouyo: have fun without me :(

Okay, so Hinata and Kageyama were out of the picture. That’s okay, he could still try Hanamaki and Matsukawa.

Makki-chan: why

Oikawa: I miss seeing my precious friends

Makki-chan: *narrows eyes*

Oikawa: c:

Makki-chan: who’s all going?

Oikawa: I’ve got Tetsu and Pudding. Tobio-chan and Chibi-chan are unavailable. I’m texting Mattsun right now

Mattsun: who all is going?

Oikawa: Makki, Tetsu and Pudding.

Mattsun: oh, Hanamaki agreed?

Oikawa: Yup!

Mattsun: ok, I’ll go

Oikawa: Mattsun said he was coming, so now you have to come

Oikawa: c:

Makki-chan: sighs

Makki-chan: fine

Oikawa fist-bumped the air and set his phone down, going into his closet in search of a change of clothes. This was going to be fun!

* * *

Even though it was the spring holidays, it didn’t mean that Iwaizumi Hajime, age 25, had a break.

Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM, he worked as a full-time medical assistant in an internal practice/physical therapy office. Monday through Thursday, 7:30 PM to 10 PM, he was in a physical therapy program full-time.

The office that Iwaizumi worked at was still open, and much to his misfortune, he still had coursework to do. Even with the holiday break, Iwaizumi had to study for an exam that he had the following Monday. And much to his dismay, holiday breaks usually brought in more patients for them to see.

Relationship status: Single.

He didn’t have time to date with his busy schedule.

Iwaizumi was studying for his kinesthesiology exam when his phone started to ring. He pauses in his reading and rolls his shoulders before picking up his phone. It was Kuroo.

“Don’t tell me you’re bailing on me or else I’m going to kick your ass,” Iwaizumi answers.

“Well, hello to you too, my loving friend,” Kuroo greets.

“Why are you calling me? We aren’t supposed to meet up for another couple of hours.”

“Can’t I just call the friend I’m going to be meeting later today just to say hello?” Kuroo asks.

“No, not really,” Iwaizumi answers, putting his pen down in his book.

Kuroo chuckles. “Ironically enough, I just said that to someone myself.”

“If you called to annoy me, it’s working and I’m three seconds from hanging up,” Iwaizumi threatened.

“Are you still nose deep in your studies?” Kuroo asked. “Why don’t you come to the gym with us?”

Iwaizumi pinches the bridge of his nose. “What for? And who is us?”

“Kenma and I. We’re going to meet up with a couple friends and do some sets.”

“Volleyball?”

“Yeah. You down?”

Iwaizumi sighed.

Iwaizumi used to play volleyball growing up. It was a hobby he nearly almost grew out of. He played from his early elementary years up until he graduated. He was offered a scholarship to continue playing when he went into university, but some time along his high school career, his passion changed.

It was his final year in school and he was offered some “free” periods. “Free” in the manner that he didn’t have to take any courses, but he still had to be present in school. He signed up to be a teacher’s aid, with hopes of possibly helping in the science or athletic wings, but he was swept into the school infirmary.

It wasn’t his first choice, but in the end, it became his new passion.

He wasn’t aware of what it was at first, but he liked being able to help others. Sure, he did freak out at first when he saw blood, but something clicked within him and he went into autopilot, his mind running through every scenario to solve the issue.

It varied from minor cuts and scrapes, students coming in for their daily medications, or to the most extreme, helping out with panic attacks.

Iwaizumi never thought he would find his calling in the medical field. And to be honest, he didn’t even know where to start. The infirmary nurse suggested he go into medical assisting, to see if he still thought it was a career to pursue.

Once Iwaizumi graduated, he joined the university with the best program, and within a year, he had his certification of medical assisting. With the program clinicals, he was hired off of his externship, remaining at the medical office that he was currently working at now.

It was an internal medicine practice that saw patients from the ages of 12 up until death, but it also doubled as an office for a physical therapist his company was associated with. Working at this practice meant that he had to do rotations in every aspect of it – he did rotations in reception, billing, back office, even the physical therapist department.

And that was when he realized that he had a more specific passion — he liked to see his injured patients frequently, and every time see them better than they were the last. His rotation in the physical therapy department made him go back to school to get a degree in it.

So here he was, working and studying full-time. It was safe to say that Iwaizumi was _very_ tired.

“I haven’t played volleyball since high school,” Iwaizumi replied, flipping through the pages he had left to study.

“That’s a lie, we played a game like last month,” Kuroo said.

“Rallying a ball back and forth between the two of us isn’t considered a game, Kuroo,” Iwaizumi replies dryly.

“So, is that a yes?” Kuroo questions.

“No.”

“No to what?”

“To your yes.”

“My what?”

“Your yes!”

“Hah?”

“Yes!”

“Ah, so wonderful, see you there Iwaizumi. Bye!”

Iwaizumi was greeted by the disconnection tone and he set his phone face down before rubbing his temples.

The last thing Iwaizumi wanted to do was break from his study time but he figured if he took his books with him, he could get some study time in before his planned break with Kuroo.

Iwaizumi gets dressed and he slips his books into his bag and starts out his room. At the same time he exits into the living room, his roommate Hanamaki is also coming out of his bedroom.

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Going to the gym. One of my friends is dragging me there for a volleyball thing,” Iwaizumi sighed.

Hanamaki chuckles. “That’s oddly and frighteningly specific.”

Iwaizumi raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because I was dragged to do the same thing!”

When Hanamaki and Iwaizumi arrive to the gym, there’s a small two versus two play going on. Kuroo and Kenma versus Matsukawa and someone Iwaizumi didn’t know. The match pauses when they notice the newcomers and the boys come to greet them.

“Makki-chan! It’s so nice to see you again!” The stranger has his arms up in the air and he’s coming towards Hanamaki, but Hanamaki puts an arms length between them.

“Absolutely not, you’re disgusting,” Hanamaki mutters, giving him a distasteful look. Matsukawa comes close to Hanamaki and slips his hand to Hanamaki’s lower back and presses a kiss Hanamaki’s forehead.

The stranger gapes and points between himself and Matsukawa. “What’s the difference?” he exclaims.

Hanamaki chuckles, taking a step closer to Matsukawa. “He’s not gross, you are.”

The stranger begins to go on a rant that the two seem to ignore, Matsukawa turning his attention to Iwaizumi.

“Long time no see Iwaizumi,” Matsukawa grins.

Iwaizumi shoots him an uninterested glance. “You were literally at my place earlier this week.”

Finding himself ignored, Oikawa turns to Kuroo, eyeing the new guy who didn’t seem very happy to be here.

“Who’s the guy?” Oikawa asks quietly to Kuroo.

From what Oikawa could tell, he was taller than him, his black hair seemed almost unnaturally spiked like Kuroo’s, but definitely shorter. His expression sat neutral, preferring to frown more often than not, yet despite that, his eyes seemed to betray his frown. He was happy to be with friends.

Kuroo’s smirk doesn’t go unnoticed and he looks over at Kenma, who looks to be uncomfortably sweaty. “You mean Kenma?”

Oikawa shakes his head. “No, not Pudding-chan,” he says, looking back to the newcomer called Iwaizumi. “This guy,” he motions his chin to him. 

“Oh! You mean Matsukawa!”

“No, the _other_ one—“

“Hanamaki? You know, considering that they’re your friends, I thought you’d know them by name by now,” Kuroo shakes his head in disappointment.

“I’m talking about the new cute boy!” Oikawa hissed quietly.

Kuroo hums, mischief growing in his smile. “Is that what it is?” He asks before turning to his friend.”I thought you were only into women?”

Oikawa’s shoulders stiffen and rise. “Don’t you fucking go there—“

“Iwaizumi Hajime.”

Iwaizumi turns to the sound of his name, seeing Kuroo smirking, the stranger whispering angry words at him. He had chocolate brown hair that seemed to match his eyes, capturing the light in the gym as they made eye contact. The stranger gave a lopsided smile that seemed infectious enough to make Iwaizumi purse his lips and nod at him.

“Glad to see you on the court again. Lovely of you making yourself a part of society for once.”

Iwaizumi scoffed. “I am an active member of society, thank you very much.”

“Work and school don’t count,” Kuroo replied.

“Neither does volleyball,” Iwaizumi countered. “I’m even surprised to see you dragged out Kenma.”

“I’m here against my will,” Kenma chirps from behind Kuroo.

The stranger snorts quietly and his eyes dart over to him, making Kuroo wrap an arm around the other’s shoulder.

“We’re here to make friends, yeah? Oikawa Tooru, meet our dear friend Iwaizumi Hajime.” Kuroo motioned a hand between the two of them.

Oikawa’s eyebrow rose. “Our?” It wasn’t until he mentioned ‘our’ that it clicked in Oikawa’s head.

“Matsukawa and I went to school with him,” Hanamaki replies.

Oikawa glances over at Kuroo. “We go to the same university. He knows Kenma by extension of me.”

Oikawa slowly nods and looks over at Iwaizumi, his lips pursed. “So, how have we never met? I went to the same middle and high school as Makki-chan and Mattsun.”

The two of them point at Iwaizumi. “He moved the same year you did.” They said in unison.

“I ended up moving my last year of junior high. I grew up with these two,” Iwaizumi says.

Oikawa hums. “I moved in my last year of junior high. I graduated with them,” Oikawa replies.

“Talk about a small world, to think we all could have been friends sooner,” Kuroo interjects, patting Oikawa too roughly in the back, making him pout. “We know this guy from tournaments.”

“And speaking of,” Matsukawa speaks up. “I thought we were here to play? We have enough people to make it a three versus three now.”

“Hold on, I didn’t come here to play,” Iwaizumi says. “I’m only here because Kuroo asked me to, but I didn’t agree to play.”

“C’mon Iwaizumi, it won’t be fun if you don’t join us! If you don’t join us, the teams will be uneven and will be left without a person playing,” Kuroo whined.

“I’m okay with not playing,” Kenma murmured and Kuroo shushed him quietly, making Kenma grumble under his breath.

“I’m not going to play,” Iwaizumi reiterated.

“Please, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa cooed with a small pout.

Iwaizumi narrows his gaze at Oikawa. “Don’t call me that.”

Hanamaki grabs onto Iwaizumi’s arm. “Yeah, please, Iwa-chan?” he sings.

Iwaizumi pulls his arm from Hanamaki with a start and sighs. “Fuck, fine.”

The six of them are split by three. On the red team, there was Kuroo (middle blocker), Hanamaki (wing spiker), and Kenma (setter). On the blue team, there was Matsukawa (middle blocker), Iwaizumi (wing spiker), and Oikawa (setter).

With all of them having history in volleyball, they weren’t having a day on the beach volleyball game. This was a little more competitive, as much as it could be with a three versus three teams. Oikawa was trying to keep his serves to minimal damage and trying to go easy on Iwaizumi with his sets.

Even with that in mind, when Oikawa got into the game, he pulled one of his usual tricks by accident. It was a feint that turned into a set and it was quick that Iwaizumi was, much to Oikawa’s surprise, was able to spike.

“Wow, Iwa-chan, you’re actually not that bad!” Oikawa sings.

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “I told you to stop calling me that,” he grunts, wiping some sweat off with the collar of his shirt. “But you’re not so bad yourself, I guess.”

Oikawa laughs. “Not so bad, you guess?”

“Oikawa is one of the university’s best players. He’s aiming to join the national team,” Kuroo says from across the net. Oikawa beams and Iwaizumi makes an uninterested hum.

The game continues, Oikawa making each set harder and harder to hit, yet Iwaizumi seems to flawlessly and easily spike each set. Oikawa was impressed.

It was at one point in the game where Iwaizumi had to set for Oikawa instead, making the set a little higher than he usually does, wanting to see the extent of Oikawa’s jump. It was a beautiful jump that met his set, however, when he landed, it wasn’t as graceful.

There was a loud pop that echoed across the gym, followed by a yelp from Oikawa as his left knee buckled and he fell to the ground.

“Holy shit, Oikawa!”

Everyone but Kenma rushed across the gym to get to Oikawa. Kuroo and Iwaizumi help Oikawa sit up.

“Holy shit,” Matsukawa muttered.

“Are you okay?” Kuroo asked.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Oikawa replies airily, waving them off before attempting to stand.

“No the hell you aren’t,” Iwaizumi replies, putting his hands on Oikawa’s shoulders to keep him down and looks at Kenma, who was standing behind all the commotion. “Kenma, can you go to reception and ask if there’s any first aid supplies?” Kenma nods and he sets the ball down beside Kuroo before he briskly walks towards reception.

Meanwhile, Iwaizumi starts to push the leg of Oikawa’s shorts up to assess the damage.

Oikawa jolts. “W-Woah, woah, what are you doing?” he exclaims, trying to avoid a gasp of pain from jolting.

“Oikawa, calm down,” Hanamaki pats at Oikawa’s shoulders. “He’s in training for this kind of stuff.”

The three boys all sit across from Iwaizumi as he looks at Oikawa’s knee.

It was already starting to swell and bruise. Iwaizumi brought his hand behind his knee and gently pushed it upward to bend the knee, but there was a hiss of pain. Iwaizumi stopped, bringing his knee down.

“So,” Kuroo asks, looking back to see if he sees Kenma. “What’s the prognosis?”

“Well, I can’t determine anything with my knowledge, but–” Iwaizumi sighs. “ –it could be one of three things: It could be sprained, broken, or torn.”

Oikawa’s jaw drops slightly. “What the fuck–” he starts.

“I’m not saying that it is torn or broken,” Iwaizumi interrupts. By this time, Kenma has come back with an icepack and a first aid kit. Iwaizumi shuffles the icepack around before setting it down on Oikawa’s knee. “That’s just worst case scenario. Best case scenario, you just landed wrong and it’s a sprain. Regardless, we should call the game now and get your knee immobilized,” he says, a little softer now.

Oikawa purses his lips, staring at the icepack on his knee for a moment before looking up at Iwaizumi. “Does this me we can’t play anymore—”

There was a resounding “no”.

Iwaizumi moved Oikawa over to the bleachers, sending Kuroo and Kenma to get a knee brace. While Hanamaki and Matsukawa brought down the net and cleaned up the mess they made, Iwaizumi making sure to keep Oikawa still, folding his short leg to look for any further swelling and make room for the brace.

Oikawa cleared his throat quietly, prompting Iwaizumi to look up at him. “The least you could do is ask me out on a date before pulling my shorts up,” Oikawa cooed quietly with a wink.

A heat rushed from Iwaizumi’s neck and up his ears. Iwaizumi reached out to the ice pack sitting on Oikawa’s knee and pressed down gently, but firmly, eliciting a small yelp from him.

“You’re an idiot,” Iwaizumi mutters, pulling his hand away.

Oikawa pouts, adjusting the ice pack. “Well, that’s not very nice.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Intimate?" Oikawa offered.  
> "You could say that." Iwaizumi nodded.

* * *

Oikawa was home thanks to Matsukawa and Hanamaki taking him back to his apartment, much to no help of the actual medical professional. He and Kuroo left without many words.

“ _Rest._ ” Was all Iwaizumi had said, after having dressed him with a knee brace and a crutch.

“ _What he said._ ” Kuroo pointed to Iwaizumi.

Oikawa could rest. It wasn’t too hard to rest. Yeah, he could do it. How hard was it to sit down and stay still for the majority of the next couple days? Probably not that hard! How hard was it going to be watching his teammates practice while he sat in the sidelines, handicapped? Probably easy—

“Oikawa.”

He looked up at the sound of his name. Hanamaki was standing beside the couch he and Matsukawa had deposited Oikawa in. Oikawa had been sitting there, left foot propped up on the coffee table in front of him, staring at a water stain left on the edge.

“You’ve been staring at the coffee table in silence for the past fifteen minutes we’ve been here, are you sure you’re okay?” Hanamaki asked.

Oikawa puts on a practiced smile. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

“I’ll see it when I believe it,” Matsukawa scoffed, plopping down beside him on the couch. He dropped himself on the couch so violently that Oikawa flinched towards his knee.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Mattsun?” Oikawa asks, adjusting a new ice pack he had received.

“What I mean is that you’ve been silent since we left the gym. That’s not normal,” Matsukawa explains, putting an arm around his shoulder lazily. “What’s eating at you?”

“It’s normal,” Oikawa hissed, crossing his arms across his chest and remained silent with a pout. Matsukawa snorted lightly and Hanamaki rose an eyebrow.

Oikawa tried to keep his poker face, but it wasn’t soon that he started to worry his bottom lip with his teeth. “Where am I supposed to get this checked out? A hospital or something?”

“There it is,” Matsukawa murmurs and Hanamaki gives him a gentle punch in the shoulder.

“I mean, if you’re really in the much pain, yeah? Otherwise, no. You can just go to your regular doctor.”

Oikawa tilts his head. “Regular doctor? I haven’t seen a doctor regularly since when I was 16,” he murmurs before looking between the two of them. “Where do you guys go?”

“We usually go to Iwaizumi’s office,” Matsukawa says, shaking his head with disappointment.

“We don’t go there often, but Iwaizumi always takes care of us in the given case we need anything,” Hanamaki nods. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind seeing you either. Let’s call first thing Monday morning and set you up with an appointment.”

Oikawa wasn’t able to get an appointment until the Friday of that week and it was driving him absolutely insane.

Crossing the university campus was a drag, especially limping with a crutch. All his classmates, even some of his professors, asked about his knee. Oikawa simply smiled his practiced smile and assured them that he was okay.

In reality, what he was more afraid of was his coach. He was their team’s setter, and with him out of commission for lord knows how long and a game within the upcoming weeks, he didn’t know what to expect. There’s been other teammates of his that might have twisted an ankle or cut a finger, and the coach would always lose his temper. He could only imagine the type of yelling he would get now with an unknown knee injury.

The gym was slowly coming into view and Oikawa could feel his heart rate accelerate despite not moving as fast as usual. For the first time ever, Oikawa didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to face the consequences of his accidental actions.

Oikawa was standing outside the locker room, trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down. And really, all this was doing was making his conscious focus on the throbbing of his knee and fiddle with his stupid crutch.

“Oikawa!”

The voice startled him, making him jump and consequently hit his good knee on the door. Now he has two throbbing knees.

“Good lord, Bokuto, do you _have_ to yell?” Oikawa sighs as he turns around to see his friend and teammate standing within indoor voice volume distance.

“What happened to your knee?” He asks, completely ignoring Oikawa’s complaint.

“Oh, I just rammed it into the door because you scared the lights out of me,” he explains, rubbing his knee gently.

“No, not that one, the other one,” Bokuto motions his foot towards Oikawa’s left.

Oikawa grumbles lightly. Bokuto always had a little bit of a one track mind. “I hurt myself playing a game with some friends.”

“Ouch. How bad?” He asks, finally looking up at Oikawa.

He avoids his gaze. “I’m not sure yet. I don’t get it looked at until Friday.”

Bokuto nods. “Does Coach know?” Oikawa reached to adjust the knee brace and shuffles the bag sitting across his shoulder. Bokuto chuckles lightly. “I’m going to take your silence as a no.”

Much to Oikawa’s reluctance, Bokuto herded him into the locker room.

“ _Not showing up at all is worse than telling him!_ ” Bokuto said as he shoved Oikawa inside and towards the coach offices. He wasn’t at all sure how true that was but he figured being honest up front would be more beneficial than beating around the bush.

With a heavy sigh, Oikawa knocks on the open door of his coach’s office and steps in, crutch and all.

“Oikawa, what did you do?” He asked. Not even a hello or anything.

“Um,” he fidgeted with the crutch. “I was playing with some friends over the weekend.”

The coach raises his eyebrows. “After I told you all to rest?”

Oikawa flinches. “It was just a three on three! We weren’t playing too seriously!”

He crosses his arms against his chest, humming. “Yet somehow it was competitive enough that this happened. How much is the damage?”

Oikawa looks down. “I don’t know,” he replies quietly. “I have an appointment with a doctor on Friday, so hopefully they will tell me everything is okay.”

Even without looking, Oikawa could sense that the coach was eyeing him. He was already expecting the yell.

“Well, it doesn’t seem to be too bad considering you’re walking on it,” he says. Oikawa peeks up and sees him sigh, rubbing his face. “I can’t let you play like this. As much as you’re going to hate it, you’re going to have to sit out until you’re healed.”

Oikawa purses his lips and swallows thickly before giving his practiced smile. “I understand.”

Oikawa didn’t hate a lot of things. He could probably count all the things he hated on one hand.

In order:

  1. When his favorite soap/manga’s new release was postponed.
  2. When his plants wilted or died (when and which is not ever his fault).
  3. Kageyama Tobio (ok, maybe _hate_ is a strong word).
  4. His team losing.



But now he thinks he could add a new and more important hate to the top of the list.

The new number one: Sitting on the sidelines.

It wasn’t that his team wasn’t any good— his team was a _very_ good team, after all, this was the team that wanted the best players and would most likely take part of the national team.

But he just _abhorred_ sitting on the sidelines and being absolutely useless. They had a set rotation that had the best players, but with him out of rotation, it forced them to make up for him. And it wasn’t that the substitute setter didn’t play well, but it didn’t flow as efficiently with Oikawa in the play.

Oikawa tapped his not as sore foot on the bleachers, an incessant sound that eventually ticked the coach off.

“Oikawa! Off the bleachers!” He yelled.

Oikawa grumbled and took a moment to get off the bleachers. He could feel eyes on him and his conscience was telling him he was getting pity stares, but he tried to ignore those as much as possible.

Maybe he could add another thing on the list: Getting pity looks.

Oikawa approaches the coach and the coach sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I know you’re itching to be out there but you can’t make all this noise on the bleachers, you’re distracting.”

Oikawa purses his lips. “Can’t I just skip? I can’t stand being here and not being on the court.”

“Attendance is still a part of staying on the team. You could sit with the team manager and go over strategies and rotations,” Coach motioned towards a bench that was sitting behind the referee stand, seating the co-coach and manager.

“Fine,” Oikawa huffed. He hated strategizing without the actual team.

Despite what the coach said, Oikawa skipped out the following day. And not just from practice, but from classes altogether.

He got texts from some of his classmates, that he ignored. He got a text, or more like ten, from Bokuto, which he also ignored. He thinks Kuroo called him too but he had no energy to check his phone. Oikawa simply turned his phone off and put it on the nightstand before turning and going back to sleep.

Oikawa wasn’t sure what time it was when he felt the blankets be ripped off of him and was flooded by both sunlight and artificial light. He shielded his eyes with no relief, but he could make the shadows of a tall being with a black rooster pompadour.

“What the hell, Tetsu-chan?” Oikawa grumbled.

“You didn’t answer my call, then you shut your phone off,” Kuroo explained, taking away the pillow that Oikawa was reaching for. “Playing hooky? That’s not like you, Oikawa.”

Oikawa grumbles, reaching for another pillow that was successfully pulled away before he could reach it. He groaned, pressing the heels of his palms to his eyes to block the light. “How did you get in anyways?”

“Oh,” Kuroo says, a tone far too proud and far too concerning for Oikawa. “I made a copy of your spare.” A jingle of keys was heard.

“That’s despicable,” Oikawa replies, bringing one hand away from his eyes and leers at the shadow that’s Kuroo.

“You love me,” Kuroo cooed.

“That’s debatable,” Oikawa returns before he sighs and he forces himself to sit up.

“You look like shit.”

“First of all, rude,” Oikawa grabs one of the pillows that’s on the ground and swings it at Kuroo. He dodges and takes it out of Oikawa’s hand. “Second of all, you didn’t just break into my house to tell me how shitty I look. Why are you here?”

“You skipped all of your classes, you ignored my call and turned your phone off. Have you watered your plants today? You’re starting to slip into an episode.”

Oikawa remained silent before he scoffed and pushed off the bed to go to the bathroom. “You don’t have to mama bird me, Kuroo. I’m 25-years-old, I’m fully capable of taking care of myself.”

“Oh, I’m _sure_ you _can_. But if you were fully capable of taking care of yourself, would you have called the doctor’s office and got yourself an appointment for a sooner date? Like, let’s say, tomorrow at 10 a.m., maybe?” Kuroo asked, sitting down on Oikawa’s bed.

Oikawa stopped halfway to the bathroom and turned to face Kuroo, who was lazily spread across the bed now, staring at the ceiling. “What?”

“I mean, if you would have checked your phone, you would have known, but noooooooo,” Kuroo droned, making Oikawa shuffle back to his nightstand.

Oikawa turns his phone on and he gets a flurry of notifications. There’s a mixture of texts from his classmates, a lot of texts from Bokuto, one text and a missed call from Kuroo, then a missed call and voicemail from an unknown number.

“Hi, this message is for Oikawa Tooru, this is Yachi-san with Pulse Medical. Just want to update you with your new appointment information for tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.! Be sure to arrive at least 15 minutes early so you can fill out new patient paperwork. If you have any questions, our office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. See you soon!”

Oikawa blinked, staring down at the transcribed message. It took him maybe a whole minute before he looked over to Kuroo. “Did you do that?”

Kuroo looked over at him and shrugged. “All you had to do was call and ask if there were any cancellations.”

Oikawa hummed softly to himself. He was glad he had a friend like Kuroo sometimes. “I should probably change my locks now,” Oikawa says, setting his phone down on his nightstand.

“I’ll probably get a copy of the new keys after a week, don’t worry,” Kuroo replies, smirk visible from the bed.

 _Sometimes_ , Oikawa reminded himself.

He had enough time to at least go to one class that morning, but Oikawa decided to skip the class altogether, heading the the doctor’s office.

The office looked quaint, with a white and cream décor that caught Oikawa’s eye. They even had little vines bordering the ceiling, and albeit they were fake, he loved it nonetheless.

Oikawa waddled his way to the front desk and was greeted by a blonde girl.

“Good morning! Your name please?”

“Oikawa Tooru.”

The girl clicked into her computer a couple times before she nodded and looked up at him. “Okay! Thanks for being here! I have the new patient paperwork here for you, if you could fill these out for me, please, and then they’ll call you back shortly.” She offered Oikawa a clipboard.

Oikawa took the clipboard and tucked it under the arm that didn’t have the crutch. He looked at the name tag that sat on her chest. “Thanks Yachi-chan,” he smiled. The girl blinked and she blushed lightly before nodding.

Oikawa barely paid any attention to his paperwork, skimming through and signing all the places that needed signatures. He just wanted to get this over with already and find out what was wrong. He was bouncing his un-injured foot, watching the clock that was hanging on the wall across from him. It was a beautiful antique clock with a swinging dial, but he couldn’t concentrate on its beauty for staring at the second hand slowly ticking around.

“Oikawa Tooru.”

Oikawa stood at the sound of his name and then he paused as he met eyes with who called his name.

The same green eyes, a scowl sitting on his features with that haphazardly styled hair, wrapped up in nice fitting black scrubs.

Iwaizumi Hajime.

Iwaizumi seemed just as surprised and he blinked before offering a small smile and motioning Oikawa in with a hand.

Oikawa gives his practiced smile because was this actually Iwaizumi? He could recognize the scowl anywhere but the smile was… too pretty.

Iwaizumi takes Oikawa’s clipboard to help, giving it to Yachi once he asked if he was done with it. He asks Oikawa to step on the scale and asks for his height.

“Taller than you,” Oikawa coos, attempting to test the waters. Iwaizumi snorts lightly and Oikawa gives him his actual height.

Iwaizumi brings Oikawa into a room much closer to the front than he had originally had him going to. He told Oikawa to sit on the bedtable and closed the door behind him as he stepped in.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Iwaizumi asked once the door was closed.

Oikawa blinked, looking over at Iwaizumi in shock. “Do you talk to all your patients that way?” He asks.

“No, but of all the places for you to go to, why here?” Iwaizumi questions, setting a clipboard down on the counter with a small clatter.

Oikawa flinched. “Makki-chan suggested I come here. If it makes you feel any better, I forgot that you actually worked here.”

* * *

Oikawa Tooru. Oikawa Tooru.

The name seemed familiar and Iwaizumi was trying to put a finger on where he had heard the name. It was a very common name, and he saw many patients with the same name.

Oh, who was he kidding? It was the name of the mutual friend he had with everyone else and injured himself over the weekend.

The reason of the visit said, knee injury. His office was partially physical therapy, so they did see a lot of the same injuries as well. So a new patient knee injury visit was also fairly common.

Iwaizumi had convinced himself that this wasn’t the same person so well, that when he went out to the waiting room and he called the patient’s name, and he saw Oikawa standing up into his graceful stance, he faltered.

It was him.

It was him but he was at work and he had to put down any personal beef he had with this man and do his job.

Iwaizumi didn’t have any issues with Oikawa Tooru but Iwaizumi wasn’t sure how he felt about him. There was something about Oikawa that seemed to get on every single one of Iwaizumi’s nerves. He didn’t know if it was all the awkward jokes about going on a date, the freak out he had about an injury, or how he kept questioning if he could get back to playing.

Something about Oikawa Tooru made a warm flush through Iwaizumi and seeing him here, at his workplace, made the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

So naturally, when they were finally alone, there was a bit a venom that slipped through in asking why he was present at his office.

“Makki-chan suggested I come here. If it makes you feel any better, I actually forgot you worked here.” He says.

So, he was told that Iwaizumi worked here. Damn Hanamaki.

Iwaizumi gives Oikawa a once over. He had bags under his eyes, his hair seemed flatter than when he first met him, and his shoulders seemed tense. All in all, he could tell that this wasn’t the usual Oikawa Tooru.

“How’s your knee?” He asks.

The tension in Oikawa’s shoulders seems to grow worse, rising them up to his ears slightly. “Well, it’s okay, for the most part. It’s not as swollen but it still hurts to walk a little,” he shrugs, looking down at his knee brace.

“What are you doing now that you can’t play?” Iwaizumi questions.

“I’m actually going insane,” Oikawa laughs dryly, his fingers gripping the edges of the bedtable.

Iwaizumi could tell that he wasn’t kidding. He actually felt a little bad for him. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to be nice to him. Iwaizumi internally sighed and started to go through his checklist for new patients.

Medical history – essentially healthy.

No known drug allergies.

Parents still living, one older sister, no children.

No smoking, frequent alcohol use.

“If you wanted to get to know me, all you had to do was ask,” Oikawa coos.

“Can you please be quiet, I’m trying to take your blood pressure,” Iwaizumi muttered, giving the cuff an extra squeeze to make Oikawa yelp.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Blood pressure’s normal,” Iwaizumi says, taking off his stethoscope and hanging it around his neck. “Alright, the doctor will be in shortly.”

Oikawa’s head snaps to him. “Wait, you’re leaving?” He asks.

“I’m not the doctor, idiot,” Iwaizumi replies. “Just the medical assistant.”

“Oh.” Oikawa looked utterly disappointed that it made Iwaizumi sigh.

“You’re going to be fine. I’ll be the one to discharge you anyway,” he pats Oikawa on the shoulder and goes out the room.

“Thanks, Iwa-chan,” he says before Iwaizumi can close the door.

Iwaizumi pauses and looks back. Iwaizumi wasn’t one to read people easily, but when it came to Oikawa, it was easy to read his emotions. “You’re going to be okay,” he reiterates.

Oikawa gives a small, nervous smile and nods. Iwaizumi watches as some of the tension in Oikawa’s shoulders disperse as he closes the door.

Iwaizumi hands off the clipboard to the doctor and gives him a rundown of Oikawa’s injury.

“Oh, so he’s a friend of yours?” One of the other medical assistants asks.

Iwaizumi shrugs. “He’s a friend of a friend.”

“Do you know if he’s single?” One of the girls asks.

Iwaizumi glares at her slightly. “That’s not a part of the new patient questions, nor is that professional to ask.”

“You’re such a grump, _Iwa-chan_.” She coos.

“Shut up, don’t call me that.”

The doctor came out of the room and gave Iwaizumi the discharge instructions. From what Iwaizumi could tell, it looked to be a strain. Iwaizumi collected everything he needed and went back into the room with Oikawa.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa greeted cheerfully, and if Iwaizumi was a simple person, he wouldn’t have noticed the stress in Oikawa’s shoulders again.

“You okay?” Iwaizumi asks as he sets a paper down on the counter.

Oikawa tilts his head to the side and he nods, smiling again. “Absolutely.”

Iwaizumi narrows his gaze at him before he hums in disbelief. “So, from what we can see now, it’s a minimal injury. We want you to get an X-ray and come in for physical therapy.” Iwaizumi takes the paper he set down on the counter and hands it to him. “There’s an imaging center next door. Get it done and once we get those results, we’ll let you know. Meanwhile, we want you to start physical therapy. We have a wing here that does physical therapy. What’s your schedule like?”

Oikawa hums. “Well, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I do History, Modern Literature, Intro to Anatomy and then Horticulture Studies. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I take—”

“Oikawa, I didn’t mean give me your whole schedule,” Iwaizumi sighs.

“I knew that,” Oikawa nods. “Um, I can come towards the end of the day?”

“Don’t you have practice towards the end of the day?” Iwaizumi asks.

Oikawa looks down and Iwaizumi feels regret for asking. “As long as I have a note, it’ll be okay.”

“Come tomorrow then. We have some openings. I’ll give you a note.”

Oikawa nods. “Okay.”

Iwaizumi walks Oikawa out to the exit door, which is something Iwaizumi rarely ever does, meeting Yachi by check out. They set up his appointment for tomorrow and the other medical assistants had hovered their way over to the front.

“Oikawa-san, we have a question!” Asked one of the girls. Iwaizumi was already glaring at them because he knew what they were doing.

“Yes, of course, what can I do for you?” Oikawa asks with a warmer smile on his face.

They giggled amongst themselves and one of them is gestured to speak. “We wanted to know if you were single?”

Oikawa smirked and looked over at Iwaizumi, who was not pleased. “Well, ladies, that’s for me to know and you all to find out,” he winked and Iwaizumi lost it.

“Alright, Shittykawa, it’s time to go,” he muttered, taking Oikawa by the shoulders and turning him, gently shoving him past check out. “Goodbye, leave, have a good day.”

Oikawa got his X-ray and then headed back to his apartment. It didn’t take all day but it took long enough that he was tired after walking so much and decided to go back home and call it a day.

Oikawa was laying in his bed, a bag of ice sitting on his knee.

“ _You’re going to be fine.”_ Iwa-chan’s words rang in his mind.

“ _I can’t determine the extent of your injury here. But from what I can tell, it seems to be a strain. We’ll get some imaging, do some physical therapy, and in the given case there’s no improvement with that, we can do additional imaging._ ” _The doctor said_.

“ _How long will it be before I’m able to play again?” Oikawa asked._

 _The doctor pursed his lips and sighed._ “ _We don’t want to push you faster than your body heals. You’re going to have to sit out for about a month. Come in at least three times a week for therapy and after a month, you should be good to go._ ”

Oikawa didn’t know what he was going to do with a whole month off of volleyball. A whole month off! He figured he was going to spiral into insanity.

Oikawa’s phone chimes with a text, taking him out of his whirlpooling thoughts. He pats his bed for his phone and when he finds it, he looks at the notification.

“OIKAWA T. had an appointment with PHYSICAL THERAPY at PULSE MEDICAL with TAKASHI U. on TOMORROW at 2:00 PM.”

Oikawa stares at his phone for a certain amount of time, rereading the text over and over before setting it down on his chest.

Tomorrow, he was going to see Iwa-chan again. He didn’t know what it was about Iwa-chan that made him feel… safe? “Comfortable” may be the word. Oikawa wasn’t sure, but something about Iwa-chan made him not feel as terrible as he thought.

Oikawa turns on his side and looks at the text again.

“Takashi U. I wonder who that is?”

Oikawa decided to go to his classes since he couldn’t skip so many without being penalized or fall behind. He did, however, skip practice. Not like he could do much there anyway.

He was at the office again, this time, taking in the aesthetics of the office. The white and crème décor was something he first noticed when he had come along with the vines that bordered the ceiling. One thing he hadn’t noticed was the way the ceiling was painted like a sky, angels speckled here and there. The furniture was all modern with a touch of antique, potted plants in every corner and on the small table in the middle of the waiting room. All the staff wore black uniforms, their names embroidered in white against their chest of their jackets, otherwise, they wore name tags. Yachi-chan was the first to greet Oikawa and soon followed more of the other girls, who crowded around the front desk as he was checked in.

They didn’t get to ask much before the door leading to the back of the office was opened by Iwazumi, who was already sporting a frown on his face.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa smiles. “It’s lovely to see you again.”

All the attention goes to Iwazumi and he takes a breath and forces a smile on his features.

“Long time no see, Oikawa. I’m on the physical therapy wing, so I’ll be assisting you today. Please, come in,” Iwaizumi motions Oikawa to come in and Oikawa wiggles his fingers to the girls gathered at the front and follows Iwaizumi inside.

“Oh Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighs, smirking lightly. “You’re so nice.”

“If we were anywhere else but here, I wouldn’t acknowledge you,” Iwaizumi murmurs only loud enough for Oikawa to hear.

“Fortunately for me, this will be the only place you’ll be seeing me consecutively for the next month,” Oikawa replies, sticking his tongue out at him.

“Fortunately for you, I can’t kick your crutch out from under you,” Iwaizumi threatened.

Oikawa gasps quietly, but dramatically. “Iwa-chan! You’d never!”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes and led the way down to the physical therapy wing. Because even if he really did want to kick in Oikawa’s crutch to get him to shut up, he’d never intentionally injure someone like that.

The physical therapy wing wasn’t as occupied as the rest of the office. There was some soft chatter from elsewhere in the wing, but Oikawa didn’t pay too much attention to it.

Iwaizumi patted a black bedtable, motioning Oikawa to sit before sitting down on a rolling stool. “Your x-ray results came back,” he says, taking a paper that was sitting on the counter. “There’s no break noted, no other abnormalities noted.”

Oikawa takes the paper that Iwaizumi was giving him. It was the report of the x-ray. “So does this mean that I can go back to playing?”

Iwaizumi gives him a deadpan look. “Can you walk without your crutch or keep your brace off for more than 24 hours?” Oikawa puffs up his cheeks and looks away. “That’s what I thought. Doc’ said that you’re out of commission for the next month and we’re going to keep to that, kay?”

Oikawa’s puffy cheeks had deflated and he took in a deep breath before letting out a short sigh. “Okay,” he replied softly.

“Okay,” Iwaizumi repeated back to him just as softly. “Now, let me see your knee.” Iwaizumi rolls closer to Oikawa, pushing up the shorts on his left leg.

Oikawa’s skin tingles when Iwaizumi’s fingers brush against his skin and he reaches to unstrap the brace. The touch was light, but it seemed to set all of Oikawa’s nerves on fire. “You know,” he begins once Iwaizumi’s touching at his knee, examining the bruising before he starts to bend and straighten the knee slowly. “I’m still expecting a date here,” he coos.

Iwaizumi falters slightly and he pulls Oikawa’s leg a little farther than he’d like, resulting in Oikawa jolting in pain. Oikawa hisses in pain and Iwaizumi pulls his hands back swiftly, murmuring a quick apology. Despite that, Iwaizumi couldn’t help the blush that started to creep on his face.

“I’m _totally_ kidding, by the way,” Oikawa says, pursing his lips in attempt to hid the smirk that’s forming.

Iwaizumi inhales sharply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “You’re quite possibly the worst patient I’ve ever had,” he mutters.

Oikawa gasps quietly and pouts. “Iwa-chan, tell me that’s not true!”

Iwaizumi looks up at the stupid pout on his stupid face. “I’ve had worse,” he admits, his hands once again finding his way back to Oikawa’s knee. “There was once a woman who was here. She had a lower back and hip injury. A couple of the exercises and reflex checks we were doing were kinda…” Iwaizumi tilts his head side to side in thought.

“Intimate?” Oikawa offered.

“You could say that.” Iwaizumi nodded.

“When you say ‘exercises and reflex checks’, do you mean what you’re doing now?” Oikawa asks, motioning his chin to what Iwaizumi was doing.

He nods, rolling back a little to give enough room for Oikawa to see. “So what I’m trying to test is your flexion and extension. Obviously, we’re starting small here because we’re slowly working at the injury. Plus, there’s only so much you can do with a knee,” Iwaizumi explains, bending and extending Oikawa’s leg slowly and gently. “For this lady, however, it was a mix of her lower back and her hip. We had her laying down and I would essentially bring her leg up against my chest to stretch the muscles in the lower back.”

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa gasps, bringing a hand to his lips. “Scandalous.”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “It’s a completely normal exercise to do, I’ve done it to both men and women–”

“You roll both ways, that’s fine,” Oikawa nods.

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi mutters, rolling closer to Oikawa to fully focus on the stretches. “It’s a common stretch to do, and one day, I brought her in and when I closed the door, she started to take her clothes off.”

“Oh my god!” Oikawa’s exclamation startles Iwaizumi, making him release his knee and looks up at Oikawa to apologize. “She started to take her clothes off?”

Iwaizumi gives a small glare at Oikawa before he brings his hands back to his knee. “Yeah, she thought that there was something going on between us and that I led her on, so on and so forth.”

“I can’t believe you’d do such a thing, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa muses.

“Again, as I stated, it’s an exercise that we do with that muscle group. I’ve done it to–”

“Both men and women, yes, I’m aware,” Oikawa finishes. “What happened then?”

Iwaizumi exhales and he rolls down Oikawa’s shorts, rolling back a little. “I stepped out and told Takashi. Takashi came in with the patient and after a whole discussion, she was dismissed from the practice.”

“Wow. And then you think _I’m_ the worst patient?” Oikawa asks.

Iwaizumi shrugs. “You’re getting there.” Oikawa squawks in offense and Iwaizumi smirks. “Anyway, I’m done here, so Takashi will be coming in shortly to review everything and discuss how often you have to come back,” he says, standing and patting Oikawa’s good knee on the way out.

“Talk about the worst patient care,” Oikawa huffs.

Iwaizumi chuckles. “Later, Shittykawa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm slowly building a playlist to this fic and I'm shameless.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iwaizumi scoffs. “You really are conceited.”   
> “I am not!”

As it turns out, the physical therapist that was supervising Iwaizumi was actually Utsui Takashi; Shiratorizawa alumni, ex-professional volleyball player, and father of Wakatoshi Ujishima, Utsui Takashi.

“Wow, I didn’t think I’d meet you of all people here!” Oikawa exclaims.

Takashi chuckles. “I get that a lot, actually. Most sport injuries come here mostly based on the fact because I’m the therapist. Word of mouth is the best referral.”

Oikawa nods. “I bet! Do you mind me asking what led you to this field?”

Takashi leans back against the counter, his arms crossed against his chest. “With the injury I had, my volleyball career was over. No amount of recuperating or therapy would ever put me back on the court. I went through my own therapy after my surgery and it made me realize that I never want anyone else to go through the same thing I did. I know I can’t completely stop injuries from happening, but if I can give enough support and therapy, I can prolong how long it will be until a career-threatening injury.”

“That’s so… admirable,” Oikawa says softly.

Takashi chuckles, shrugging. “My injury was a blow to my pride. If I can prevent someone else from taking a blow to theirs, it helps mine a tiny bit.”

Oikawa smiles. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

“Of course. Any friend of Iwaizumi’s is a friend of mine,” he replies, picking up the clipboard at his side. “Well, Iwaizumi’s report is pretty accurate. There’s still a lot of tenderness to the injury, so it’s best to do the three times a week as Doc’ said.”

“Iwa-chan… Sorry,” Oikawa ducks his head with a guilty chuckle. “Iwaizumi. Is he your student?”

Takashi shakes his head. “Not my student, but he’s going to school for the same. Figured since he was leaning towards the same field, it’d be nice to get his feet wet and keep him in this wing for longer periods of time. Did you have a complaint?”

“Oh, not at all!” Oikawa stays with a wave of his hand. He is very knowledgeable and seems to have a passion for what he’s doing. He demonstrated everything he was doing, careful to not aggravate my injury.” Except for the one time, but that was Oikawa’s fault anyway.

“Good, I’m glad to hear that. He’s a good kid, Iwaizumi. I think he’ll make a great therapist one day. Would you be okay if he takes over in your care? I can overlook everything he does and if you have any questions, I can always jump in.”

Oikawa tilts his head in thought. If Iwa-chan could take care of him on the court, he could very well take care of him here. “That’s fine! I trust him.”

Takashi smiles. “Sounds great. Rest over the weekend and then you come start coming in every other day beginning Monday.”

Oikawa nods and comes off the bedtable. He’d dare to say that he feels _so_ much better, but only to bug Iwaizumi. Not to Takashi. “Thanks again. It was nice talking to you!”

“Likewise! Don’t push yourself too hard and who knows, maybe I’ll be seeing you on the big screen next time.” Takashi winks.

Oikawa chuckles and waves as he exits.

Oikawa doesn’t make it far down through the office before Iwaizumi meets him at the nurses’ station of the clinic.

“All done?” He asks.

Oikawa nods. “Takashi-san said that you’re actually not that great at your job and he might consider firing you and bringing back one of the girls.”

The girls sitting at their desks snickered quietly as Iwaizumi glared at him. “I think he said he was actually going to dismiss you from the practice and that you have one day to find a new therapist,” he countered.

“Actually, Oikawa has 30 days to find a new therapist, as long as we give him written dismissal,” one of the girls spoke up.

“And, we can still see him until then,” jumped in another.

“Plus I doubt Takashi-san would dismiss Oikawa,” finished another girl.

Oikawa looks at Iwaizumi, a proud smirk on his face. “See, Iwa-chan? The girls have my back on this. How does it feel to be outsmarted by your coworkers?”

“How does it feel to have your recovery placed in my hands?” Iwaizumi asked, cracking his knuckles in mock threat.

Oikawa puts his hands together and ducks his head. “Okay, okay, okay, I’m sorry!” He replies with a laugh.

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “Let’s go to check out so we can set up your sessions.”

Oikawa’s set up for late afternoon sessions, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

With a note, now Oikawa was allowed to skip practice, but his previous skips weren’t let go under the radar.

“Oikawa!”

“Chibi-chan!”

“Oikawa-san!” That time, Oikawa did flinch, because he knew that voice. It was the coach, and he wasn’t happy. Hinata and Bokuto, who had crowded Oikawa to greet him, ducked their heads and ran off to the other end of the gym to do their warmup exercises. Oikawa turns to look at him and he smiles, waving a sheet of paper as his white flag. “You’ve been skipping practice, even after I told you not to!” He snatches the sheet from Oikawa’s hand and looks down at it before looking over at Oikawa.

“It’s just a sprain, but I need therapy for a couple of weeks,” Oikawa explained.

The coach eyed his knee before narrowing his gaze up at Oikawa. “How long?”

“About a month,” Oikawa says, shuffling his good foot.

There’s a growing silence between them and it’s slowly giving Oikawa anxiety until the coach sighs.

“Dammit, Oikawa,” the coach sighs, rubbing his face with a hand before taking it through his hair. “You’re going to miss the game then.”

Oikawa purses his lips. He had been aware of that detail, but he figured that ignoring it would just… make it go away. “I know,” he mumbles.

“We will have to sub someone in, fine. But you better recover and take it easy for the next game, do you understand?” He asks, pointing a finger.

Oikawa straightened and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

\--

Oikawa is coming in three times a week. Iwaizumi never dreaded going into work – he loved doing what he did. But whenever he had to wake up and realize that he was going to see Oikawa, he groaned as he rolled out of bed.

Iwaizumi complained but in all honestly, Oikawa was probably the most refreshing thing he could end his days with. Even when Iwaizumi’s had one of the worst days, whether it was arguing with a patient or just having a long day, to end the day with Oikawa’s chatter, was more comforting than he liked to admit. Plus, he did a lot more of the talking that required Iwaizumi to just listen rather than talk.

With every session, Iwaizumi got to know more about Oikawa. It’s not that he asked Oikawa to share, but he just… loved to talk about himself.

Iwaizumi found out that aside from volleyball, Oikawa didn’t have any other specialties. He was taking very generic classes, basics, that were kind of spread all over. Varied from plants and astrology to child development.

“I don’t know what I want to do, honestly,” Oikawa said one afternoon. “A part of me was really moved by Takashi-san. About wanting to prevent people from taking blows to their pride?”

“Wow, you? Being considerate? Shocker,” Iwaizumi mumbled as he straightened Oikawa’s knee.

“I think what I’d like to do is be a coach,” Oikawa says, ignoring him. “Teach kids how to do my killer serve and then have them wish that they were like me,” Oikawa nods.

Iwaizumi scoffs. “You really are conceited.”

“I am not!”

Once Oikawa had poured his whole life story to Iwaizumi unprompted, he had nothing more to talk about. Which lead him to ask Iwaizumi what his whole life was about.

“Listen, just because you shared your whole life story doesn’t mean I have to share mine,” Iwaizumi replies.

“But Iwa-chan!” Oikawa pouts. “It’s only fair. You know everything about me–”

“Not true.”

“So now it’s my turn to know about you!”

Iwaizumi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Maybe if he closed his eyes and pretended that the pout wasn’t there, it would disappear. He wished that were true until puppy whines were added into the mix. “Oh my god, fine, just… shut up.”

“Yay!”

“So, you used to play with Makki-chan and Mattsun? That’s why you’re so good,” Oikawa nods. “What made you stop playing?”

“It was more of a hobby than it was a passion. Don’t get me wrong, I loved to play and play with my friends, but when I sat down and considered what I wanted to do for the future, volleyball wasn’t it. I picked a teacher’s aid course in my last year of school and I ended up in the school infirmary. I wasn’t a fan of it at first, but the next thing I knew, I had found my new passion.” Iwaizumi says.

“Your new passion, huh?” Oikawa hums, leaning back. “I can only imagine what it would have been like if you didn’t move.”

Iwaizumi furrows his eyebrows slightly and looks up at him. “Like, if I didn’t move away?”

Oikawa nods. “Yeah! Like if the four of us all went to the same school.”

Iwaizumi purses his lips. “No guarantee we would be friends,” he mutters.

“You’re so mean!” Oikawa pouts before laughing. “We could have been unstoppable, you and me. I know I was definitely pushing your buttons on the court that day, but you were just so amazing!”

Iwaizumi pulls his hands away from Oikawa’s knee, rubbing his nose. “I’m not all that great,” he muttered.

“Give yourself more credit, Iwa-chan!” he says, leaning forward. “I was pushing sets that I generally only play with my team. If we were all together at Seijoh, we could have been the best team back then. Not that I’m saying we weren’t the best team already, but we could have been better! We could have made it nationals!” He sighs.

Iwaizumi chuckles lightly. “Never made it to nationals?”

Oikawa huffs. “No. Shiratorizawa always stole it from us when we went to finals.”

“Shiratorizawa tends to be like that.”

“I hate them,” Oikawa mutters.

“I wouldn’t speak so loud, the team captain’s father happens to be my supervisor.”

Oikawa slaps a hand over his mouth. “I forgot,” he whispers.

Iwaizumi laughs.

Over the course of Oikawa’s sessions, the two of them grew more chummy than Iwaizumi would like to admit. But it wasn’t just him.

With each visit, he grew to memorize the names of everyone in the office. The girls would still swoon with every smile he threw their way, and it was annoying to the point that Iwaizumi considered bringing him in through the back entrance.

“Are you jealous because you’re not getting my charming smiles?” Oikawa coos.

“You’re lucky you’re walking without your crutch now, otherwise I’d kick it out from under you,” Iwaizumi threatened.

“Iwaizumi-san, I expected better of you,” says the doctor as he comes out of one of the patient rooms.

Iwaizumi immediately stiffens and a blush creeps over his cheeks as he realizes he slipped and said something he shouldn’t have to a patient. “D-Doc, I-I, he’s uh, a friend, so, we kind of joke,” he stammers.

“Doc,” Oikawa whines. “I’m being bullied.”

“Iwaizumi-san, do we need to reprimand you?” He asks, sending a stern look towards Iwaizumi, a small smirk sitting on his lips.

“N-No, sir!” Iwaizumi bows his head slightly and he begins to push Oikawa as the rest of the girls start to giggle.

The remainder of Oikawa’s recovery goes about the same: Oikawa droning on about volleyball, talking about his teammates. Iwaizumi knew some of them from his past: Kageyama Tobio, Bokuto Koutaro. He also ventured into talking about candidates for the national Tokyo team. He’s vaguely heard of Miya Atsumu, and the only thing Iwaizumi could get from Oikawa with regards to Atsumu was that he was annoying, arrogant, and stuck up.

“Sounds like you,” Iwaizumi murmurs.

“Iwa-chan! Don’t compare me to the likes of him!” Oikawa squawks.

“All you talk about is yourself. Plus, wanting to pass on your ‘legacy’? Sounds conceited. Self-centered, even,” Iwaizumi replies.

The rest of the session goes on with them bickering until Takashi had to come in and do a final evaluation of Oikawa’s knee. Much to both his and Oikawa’s pleasure, Oikawa has practically made a full recovery. No pain, pressure, or tightness came with any of the stretches and exercises.

“Alright, Oikawa!” Takashi says as he finishes. “You’re nearly all healed, so you’re no longer required to come to therapy and you can go back to practice.”

“Yes!” Oikawa cheered.

“But,” Takashi continued. “A word of precaution. You’re still healing — don’t over-exert yourself. Don’t push yourself more than you’re capable. I don’t want to be a pessimist, but this injury could have been much worse. Take these words as advice and take care of yourself, make sure to warm up sufficiently to prevent any re-injury.”

Oikawa nods. “Yes, sir.”

Takashi smiles and nods. “Very well, then. It was a pleasure having you here in the office, Oikawa-san. Hopefully, next time I see you will be on television.” Takashi raises a closed fist, offering it to Oikawa.

Oikawa chuckles and meets Takashi’s fist with his own, bumping it gently as Takashi heads out. “Thank you, sir,” he smiles.

“Iwaizumi, write him his clearance note and discharge,” Takashi says before exiting the room, leaving the two alone again.

Oikawa is gently kicking his legs as Iwaizumi writes a note for him, allowing him to return to practice with no restrictions.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa muses from beside him. “You have such terrible handwriting.”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “As if yours is better,” he retorts.

“It is, actually!”

“What matters is that it’s legible, okay?”

“Iwa-chan, you know what I just realized?” Iwaizumi hums in question. “I won’t see you anymore.”

“Thank god,” Iwaizumi sighs. There’s a silence and Iwaizumi glances over at Oikawa, a small pout sitting on his lips. He refrains from rolling his eyes and nudges him gently with his shoulder. “Just joking,” he murmurs as he hands him the note.

“Can I have your number?”

A quiet moment passed between them, a small air of awkwardness permeating between them.

“I, uh… I’m sure I’d be breaking some sort of rule if I take your phone number on the clock,” Iwaizumi says, releasing the note and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Then we wait until you clock out. You clock out at five, right?” He asks, looking down at his note. “See ya, Iwa-chan,” he sings, exiting the room, leaving Iwaizumi stammering in his wake.

—

Oikawa didn’t know what he had within him that made him ask for Iwaizumi’s number, but it was more of a blurted question than anything. He had the chance to take it back but… he did want to keep in contact with Iwaizumi.

Oikawa rolled both ways. He leaned more towards women the majority of the time, but he had his encounters with men. Albeit, his encounters with men always ended up with him being ghosted by the other or asking for a threesome. Oikawa wouldn’t mind a threesome, but only if he’s the center of attention.

Ever since a bad hookup with – which was a suggestion of Kuroo’s, by the way – he didn’t actively pursue dating with men.

It wasn’t that he wanted to date Iwaizumi… And well, he wouldn’t say that he _didn’t_ want to date him. But he wanted to keep in touch with him. Iwaizumi made him feel things he hadn’t feel before, and it wasn’t even remotely intimate. Iwaizumi listened to him ramble and didn’t ignore or interrupt him. He cared about his health, but that fact was debatable since Iwaizumi was in the medical field. Even then, the small touches and gentle quips Iwaizumi would do when Oikawa first started therapy would make his heart flutter.

On his way out, Oikawa asked the girls at the front what exit they used. They looked between each other and Oikawa dodged the subject with a smile and a wink. Once he found out what exit staff went through, he looked at his watch.

Iwaizumi’s shift didn’t end for another 30 minutes, so he had some time to kill. Oikawa decided to go to the coffee shop down the street, grabbing his favorite latte, heading back to the office when it was within ten minutes of closing time.

Oikawa saw the girls leaving and he decided to hide from their point of view. It’s not that he doesn’t want to talk to them — they’re really sweet, but they all act like his fangirls. Easily wooed and eager to please. Yachi, at the front desk, seemed to be like the only girl who wasn’t fawning over him.

Once Oikawa saw the broad shoulders exiting the office, he felt himself grow warmer than the latte made him.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa watches his shoulders rise in a flinch and pausing, turning to look at him. Naturally, he was scowling but his eyes were betrayed his expression.

“You… actually waited?” He asks, the faintest blush noticeable on his cheeks.

Oikawa smiles and nods. “Well, didn’t want to get you in trouble,” he sings. “Do you have any plans for tonight?” There he goes again, asking things without thinking.

“Yeah, actually, I have class.” Iwaizumi says, shifting his backpack on his shoulder.

“Oh! Sorry, I don’t mean to keep you,” Oikawa takes his phone out of his pocket and hands it over to Iwaizumi. “Please and thank you,” he smiles.

Iwaizumi stares at the phone that’s been handed to him, glancing up at Oikawa. He chuckles lightly, his whole grumpy façade falling. “You really don’t give up, don’t you?”

“If you’re going to hit something, hit it until it breaks,” Oikawa responds.

“That’s a volleyball thing, isn’t it?” Iwaizumi asks, with a raise of his eyebrows.

Oikawa rubs the back of his neck with a chuckle. “Yeah, but it still applies. I mean, I asked enough to get you to break and give me your number, didn’t I?”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “Reason is that I have the feeling you will harass me if I don’t give it to you in the first place,” Iwaizumi replies, sighing as he starts tapping on the screen. “I have class from 6:30 until 10. If you spam my phone, I will not hesitate in blocking your number,” he says as he offers Oikawa his phone back.

Oikawa’s buzzing as he’s taking his phone back, looking at the new contact. Iwaizumi Hajime. Oikawa grins and pressed his phone to his chest. “I won’t, I promise,” he replies, looking down at his phone again. “Can I send you a text message to see that you didn’t put a fake phone number in?”

Iwaizumi scoffs. “Go for it,” he says, pulling his phone out.

Oikawa’s tapping in a text message, but he decides to forgo a text and call him instead. Iwaizumi’s phone lights up in his hand and Iwaizumi looks down before showing it to Oikawa. “Oh wow, you actually did give me your number.”

Iwaizumi gives him a deadpan look. “You know where I work and we have mutual friends. I feel like you’d harass me if I gave you the wrong one,” he replies, looking down at his phone and declining the call.

“Rude,” Oikawa murmurs.

“It’s not like you need me to answer, I’m literally right here.”

“Yeah, but maybe I wanted to leave you a voicemail.”

“You’re so annoying,” Iwaizumi groaned, turning around and continuing his exit. Oikawa chuckled and joined him on his way out.

They walked together until they had to go their own separate ways in the parking lot. When Oikawa got into his car, he looked down at his phone again, staring at the new contact in his phone.

Iwaizumi Hajime. His stomach did little flips as he received a text from him.

Iwaizumi: how should I save you on my phone

Iwaizumi: I’m thinking Shittykawa

Oikawa: OMG NO that’s terrible

Oikawa: that’s slander

Oikawa: libel even

Iwaizumi: Yeah, you’re right

Iwaizumi: Trashykawa sounds better

Oikawa: nO


End file.
